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The third annual Christmas Parade of Lights in Great Bend was held on the chilly evening of November 30th. Running south down Main Street, the well-attended and growing parade consisted of 31 floats and 4 fire departments. Attendees were invited to the Lee Wiegand Park behind the VFW after the parade for a visit with the Mr. and Mrs. from the North Pole, in addition to hot cocoa and cookies and giveaways for children.

Liz Landes, an organizer of the event, wished to recognize the Auxiliary of the VFW Post 6223 who has been "wonderful help," the Great Bend Methodist Church who "does great things for their community," the Great Bend Fire Department "who always comes through with anything that we ask," and the Great Bend Borough Council for its "permission and participation."

Additionally, thanks was given to the Triplets Cheer and the Methodist Church for putting effort into award-winning floats, and all of the many businesses and community organizations that make the event possible. Not to be forgotten is the parade committee consisting of Ms. Landes, Carolyn Paccio, Joe Collins, April and Michael Mroz, Tammy Smith and Fran Durso.

The last three members of the Great Bend Police Department have resigned. Officer in Charge, Katie Stanziale, the only active patrol officer for the past many months, submitted a letter to the Borough Council for its meeting on December 5th announcing her decision to close out her employment as of the end of the month. She did not attend the meeting.

Almost a year ago Ms. Stanziale broached the subject of her officers' pay, seeking an immediate increase, annual pay raises, and an increase in the uniform allowance. At that time she said that applicants "were deterred by the low pay … as well as the attitude of council towards the police department." She has pressed the issue ever since, to no effect. In her resignation letter, Ms. Stanziale said that she saw "still no effective change or progress … after almost a year of unrelenting effort." (The department's part-time officers are paid $20 per hour; Ms. Stanziale, as Officer in Charge, gets $21 per hour. There are no health or pension benefits.)

Jerry MacConnell complained that Council had given them "everything they wanted": radios, a computer, cars, training, while coverage seemed sparse. The police department is allocated a limited number of hours in Great Bend, and even slimmer hours of contracted service in New Milford and Hallstead. When Council was presented with a request for reimbursement for firearms certification, members were indignant, especially for the officers who rarely patrolled; they did seem more willing to cover the expense for Ms. Stanziale, however. Council has met for several "work sessions" about the police department, but never made a decision about increases in compensation.

The letter didn't seem to come as a shock to members of Council, yet they seemed confused as to how to proceed. Could they "suspend" the operation of the police department? The Borough's solicitor, Frank O'Connor would be consulted about that. They seemed to think that going "further south" to advertise for officers might yield some interest. Mayor Jim Riecke said that he thought there was "potential" for attracting more people; he didn't say how, and they conceded that, as a very small town, they couldn't afford much more than what they've had.

When they formally adopted the budget for 2025, Council members wondered what the financial effect would be if the operation of a police department was suspended. They seemed to agree that the budget could be reopened next year, if necessary. The budget provides $53,650 for the police department next year, some of which is covered by contracted services to the neighboring boroughs. It will be necessary, of course, to notify New Milford and Hallstead of these developments.

Jason Green, representing Hose Company Number 1 (there has never been a Number 2 as far as he knew), asked that Council consider replacing the holiday lights along Main Street with LED lighting sometime in the next couple of years. He said that changing the bulbs had become time-consuming, and the stock of bulbs is running low; LED lighting would be cheaper in the long run. Council commended the fire company for providing a "warming station" during the recent lengthy power outage following a heavy snow storm.

And everyone was excited about the success of the holiday parade the Saturday after Thanksgiving. There were many floats and many happy people turned out in frigid weather to participate and enjoy.

The Great Bend Borough Council will probably meet next on the first Thursday of January, the 2nd, in part to reorganize themselves. They don't often have much reorganizing to do: Jerry MacConnell thinks he has been on Council for half a century; Rick Franks has been President of Council as long as anyone can remember; and Mayor Riecke has occupied that office for more years than he could count. Meetings begin at 7:00pm in the Borough building at Elizabeth & Franklin Streets.

After 3 tries, at its last meeting of the calendar year on December 4th, the Blue Ridge School Board finally accepted a bid to build a softball field on land acquired down School Road for the purpose. The vote wasn't without dissent, however, and came after an inconsequential procedure to reorganize the Board – right back to where it was.

As required by the state school code, the Board took votes to organize itself for the next year. Board President Jessica Wright was first voted into the temporary chair, then voted back into the permanent office, followed by re-election of Mindi Carr as Vice President. (Along the way, as part of the business session, the Board approved a meeting schedule for 2025, including extra budget workshops in February, March and April.)

All that out of the way, the Board recognized some of its exceptional students:

• Maverick Shaw was chosen by Elementary School Principal Danelle Decker as 5th-grade Student of the Month for November. He is said to be a responsible, excellent student who likes baseball, fishing, social studies, and hopes to one day be a New York Yankees baseball player.

• Elise Burchell was also chosen for the honor, a soccer player who loves gymnastics and would like to become a veterinarian or a teacher.
  
  
• Middle/High School Assistant Principal, Brian Woodruff, standing in for Principal Casey Webster, declared Irelynn Bishop 8th-grade Student of the Month. Ms. Bishop is said to be an excellent archer, and also a proud member of the National Junior Honor Society.
  
  
• Mr. Woodruff named former Athlete of the Month, saxophonist Harper Gallagher, a soccer and softball player, to be 8th-grade artist of the month.
  
  
• Mr. Woodruff named Carlissia Mayancela, proud of her Macedonian heritage, and member of the Science Club and Leo, as Senior of the Month for November. Ms. Mayancela looks forward to a career as a paraprofessional.
  
  
• Hope Treadway was named Senior Artist of the Month for November. Ms. Treadway has said that "Art is my passion." She is a percussionist and song writer, who has already received a $500 scholarship, and hopes to pursue music production.
  
  
• Athlete of the Month was Max Ksenich, a member of the National Honor Society, the track team, and the ski patrol who hopes to attend Colorado or Penn State next year, with a goal of becoming a National Geographic photographer.
  

When the Board finally got around to its business agenda, they accepted the low bid from Herbert Excavating of Kingsley to build the softball field for $661,500, almost $300,000 lower than the bid that was tabled last month. The Board also approved contingency funding amounting to another 10% of the bid price. Mindi Carr, the lone dissenter, said later that she voted against it because it was too expensive, and because her "constituents [in New Milford] didn't want it."

Among other items on the agenda, in a single roll-call vote, the Board approved:

• A "Partial Hospitalization Therapeutic Agreement" with the Northeastern Educational Intermediate Unit 19 (NEIU19) for the current school year at a cost of $285 per day per student as needed.
  
  
• An "Emergency Operations Plan" that will be submitted to, and coordinated with, the Susquehanna County Emergency Operations Plan.
  
  
• A summer financial assistance request from Kayla-Ann Loby to attend the Hugh O'Brien Youth Leadership Conference next June at Millersville University; every year the Board allocates a sum to be divided among such applications, each to receive no more than $250.
  
  
• The resignation of Lloyd Sheldon as head coach of Junior High wrestling, and naming Jonathon Carpenter to be his replacement.
  
  
• A request from Forest City High School senior Jonathon Conlogue to distribute a "Milk Spoilage and Food Wastage Survey" to Blue Ridge students and staff.
  

Among other more modest changes to the Board's voluminous policy manual, most involving updates to language recommended by later legislation and regulation, the Board is offering a new policy covering "Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence [Generative AI] in Education." This first attempt at such a policy covers training and guidance in the use of Generative AI by teachers and students.

The Board also discussed the on-going development of its own scholarship program and fund. Coterra, one of the natural gas exploration companies active in the area, is offering a matching grant of $25,000, to be managed by the Susquehanna County Community Foundation. Superintendent Matthew Button outlined a promotional effort to solicit contributions from the community to the fund that will feature brochures, flyers and mailings to residents and businesses.

This meeting began much earlier than usual – at 5:30, because of a wrestling match the same evening. And there was no soup. HOWEVER, a donation by an anonymous supporter of the Board made possible a spread including tuna salad sandwiches on croissants, a hearty salad, and a hot pasta casserole, topped off by delicious brownies. There is never a guarantee of a meal at these things, but your next opportunity will be on Monday, January 13, 2025 beginning at 7:00pm.

The Board's Budget & Finance Committee will hold a meeting on Tuesday, December 10, 2024 at 5:00pm (probably before you read this) when they will discuss the tax collectors' request for an increase in their remuneration.

All meetings are in the cafeteria in the Elementary School.

The Pennsylvania School Code requires public school district boards of directors to reorganize themselves during the first week of December every year. So it was, that on December 2nd the Mountain View School Board assembled for the last time this calendar year to choose its officers. Since the November election yielded no changes in the Board's membership, and since the members simply returned their leaders to office, there wasn't a whole lot else to do, and the meeting ended in record time, barely more than 20 minutes after it started.

For the record, Jason Richmond continues as Board President; Ken Decker remains First Vice President; Michael Barhite retains the office of Second Vice President. Asked why the Board needs a Second Vice President, Mr. Richmond said that he would preside in the absence of both the president and first vice president (something that this reporter has never witnessed on any board in 30 years). There was only a mild insurgency when Tracy Flynn nominated Michael Barhite for president, but his was the only vote of that sort. Mr. Flynn himself was nominated for Second Vice President, but even he voted for Mr. Barhite. Go figure.

Be that as it may, because there weren't any changes, several agenda items were skipped, like administering the oath of office and dealing with bank signatures. Since the meeting came so early in the month, there was also no treasurer's report. And there were no administrator reports, since all but Superintendent Michael Elia skipped the meeting, and he gave no report either.

There was some other business. The Board approved a calendar for its meetings for 2025 – once a month, except for April; Dr. Elia said a second meeting that month would probably be needed for the budget.

The Board approved agreements with

• Government Software Services for printing homestead/farmstead exemption documents;
  
  
• New Story Schools, with locations in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia, and based in Mountville, PA, for autism and behavioral services; New Story is owned by Audax Private Equity;
  
  
• Power Ad for generating sponsorships for a pair of new video boards to be installed in the gymnasium.
  

The Board also approved lists of field trips and conference requests for students and staff.

Mr. Richmond announced that an executive session had covered the superintendent's contract.

And with that, everyone wished everyone else Happy Holidays!, collected a slice or two of thickly iced carrot cake, and stole off into the night.

The Mountain View School Board will meet in public session next on Monday, January 13, 2025 beginning at 7:00 in the Zick Board Room in the Elementary School building.